Rogue Trooper Re-enlisted by IDW Publishing

IDW Publishing recently had a revelation, and that was “British comics are some of the finest ever made.” They’ve been harvesting the pages of 2000 AD, the monthly comic collection which stayed synonymous with fantastic future adventures even when the actual year was long passed by. IDW have already released new series starring face of the law Judge Dredd, incomparable killers Sinister Dexter, and now it’s the turn of the ultimate soldier: Rogue Trooper.

Rogue Trooper was one of the greatest war tales ever told. A story which understood that science-fiction lets you shape an entire world around the themes fo the story: in this case Nu-Earth, an utterly poisoned world still locked in endless, pointless war between the Norts and the Southers. It focuses on the struggle of the Genetic Infantryman “Rogue”, a cloned trooper whose brainchip can be inserted into a new body when he dies, and he’s still the last of his kind because his loyal comrades were all slaughtered by corrupt superiors. This leaves him wandering the war, digitally haunted by the ghosts of his friends, whose brainchips now control his backpack, helmet, and gun.

The setting is classic. The original was a masterpiece. We’ll be looking forward to seeing how the new version does – and to what IDW will release next. Because even when it includes cash-in nonsense like an Angry Birds comic, global digital extensions of some of the greatest British comics ever written is worth it.